THIS is the moment a shopkeeper scuffled with an alleged thief – and he is now calling for a crackdown of shoplifters.
CCTV footage shows business owner Wayne Jarvis, 42, confronting an alleged shoplifter – grabbing her sleeve to try and keep her in store until the police arrived.
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Wayne Jarvis (right) confronted an alleged shoplifter and her two pals on May 8 Credit: Wayne Jarvis
Wayne Jarvis outside his shop in Worcester Credit: SWNS
He is then confronted by two other men – believed to be her boyfriend and a friend – who scuffle with him before the trio managed to flee on May 8.
The shopowner had called the police – and was trying to hold back the alleged thief until they arrived. before the three fled.
Wayne, 42, opened his shop called Fifty Scents in Worcester, West Midlands, last April.
And he says he’s already had hundreds of pounds worth of stock swiped in Britain’s shoplifting epidemic.
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There were 509,566 in the UK in the year ending December 2025, a slight decrease – but the figures are still nearly 150,000 higher than pre-pandemic figures.
Wayne also added he thinks it’s “wrong” that people are losing their jobs for confronting thieves.
Morrisons manager Sean Egan was dismissed after standing up to career criminal Daniel Kendall at his store, and Waitrose worker Walker Smith was sacked after he “grabbed the bag” from a shoplifter.
Wayne said: “You shouldn’t be losing your job for that because you’re doing what is right.
Wayne alleges the woman attempted to leave without paying for a greetings card Credit: Wayne Jarvis
Wayne regularly shares CCTV from his shop online to shame suspected shoplifters Credit: Wayne Jarvis
“Yes, it may not be company policy to do that and let these people get away with it, but most people’s moral compass doesn’t allow that.”
Wayne is not shy about confronting wannabe shoplifters – and he’s taken to sharing CCTV of alleged offenders online in a bid to deter them.
He says his “name-and-shame” method is working – and believes it has detered thousands of pounds of thefts.
The shop owner said: “I think people need to be aware of what’s actually going on and how prevalent it is because people don’t realise what we have to put up with on a daily basis.
“People need to realise that they can’t get away with this and they can’t continue to do it. Because ultimately we’re all paying.
“It stops the repeat offenders. We’ve never caught the same person twice – they don’t ever come back”.
Surprisingly, the most popular item that gets nicked in Wayne’s store is £7.99 rubber ducks – with one lady attempting to take six of them last weekend.
CCTV footage shows Wayne in a scuffle after confronting a lifter over a £1.99 greeting card she popped in her bag before Wayne called the cops.
He shares footage of them on his Facebook page Credit: Wayne Jarvis
One piece of footage showed a rubber duck being placed in a bag by a woman Credit: Wayne Jarvis
He said: “She obviously didn’t wanna hang around for the police and obviously started to try and escape. So I grabbed hold of a jumper to bring her back in store.
“But then obviously two other guys got involved who were, one I believe was her boyfriend and one was a friend, and they managed to eventually get her out of the store.”
“Some people say ‘all that over a £1.99 card’ – but it’s not just a card. Quite often it’s more than that.
“We stopped a lady a couple of weeks ago for a two pound bath bomb. And when she was searched, she’d got 90 pounds worth of stuff.”
The 42-year-old said shoplifting is increasing because thieves think they can get away with it – with one crook’s daughter even telling him “the police won’t do anything anyway, so why are you bothering?”.
The shopkeeper said: “Unfortunately, it does go back to the government because the prisons are full and we understand that – but you can’t keep letting people get away with stuff because it just encourages it.
“There’s no deterrent and there’s no real consequence to what they do, so they just go back out the next day and literally start doing it again.”
This comes after The Jattvibe exclusively revealed cops gave up on 90 per cent of shoplifting cases within weeks in some areas of the UK.
And Prime Minister Kier Starmer has said he believes the “tide could be turning” on retail crime.
Speaking last month, he said the Government has put an extra 3,000 neighbourhood police officers on the streets.
And he said the government had scrapped the “ridiculous” rule which left theft of goods worth less than £200 “not properly investigated” by police.
Regarding Wayne’s scuffle, a West Mercia Police spokesman said: “Enquiries are on-going into an attempted theft from Fifty Scents on Broad Street in Worcester following a report received on Friday, May 8.”
